Palisades Restorations Continue Singing Fountain planning advances

by Kevin Carpenter, Chairman, Projects Committee

The Projects Committee was busy this summer focusing on a future vision for the Palisades, as well as shepherding one of our signature projects into construction.

Looking to future projects, many of our members hope to realize the potential of the Singing Fountain, what was once the Firestone Singing Fountain of the 1935 exposition. Landscape architect and planner Vicki Estrada has led the effort to visualize the restored plaza and the fountain, backed by a team of artists and designers who have tested the confines of the precise plan.

The Municipal Gym as it appeared in mid-2021 prior to the repainting of its original colors and readied for return of exterior ornamentation, fabricated from documentation of the building in 1935-36. Photo: C100

Floor decoration at the entrance to the Municipal Gym depicts the theme of the building’s use as the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries at the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition. The artwork will be restored as part of the building’s restoration. Photo: C100

Estrada, project architect Robert Thiele and the committee have developed a growing consensus for an interactive fountain option. While an exact historic replica fountain is still under consideration, an interactive fountain will honor the outline and fountain jets of the 1935 plaza, while addressing the needs of current park goers and restore and re-energize the Palisades plaza with cooling water, as well as retaining the multitude of other uses the plaza can offer. Regardless of the final form, the committee still has a long way to go to test the viability of the project and build consensus among the larger park stakeholders. The fountain will be a strong contender for C100’s focus in the coming year, while we weigh other repair and restoration projects across the park.

Today, our current project restores the exterior of the Palace of Electricity and Varied Industries building (now the Municipal Gym) to its exposition era glory. Thiele has expertly led the design and permitting phase and is working with Projects Committee to transition the project into construction with general contractor Barnhart-Reese’s Chuck McArthur with a rapidly approaching groundbreaking targeted for early this fall. Board members will recall that Barnhart-Reese was our partner for the restoration of the California State Building (San Diego Automotive Museum) across the plaza and we look forward to continuing that successful team for the Municipal Gym work.

Ross Porter, Kevin Carpenter and Mike Matson check the models for elements of the bas-relief and ornamentation that will be installed on the facade of the Municipal Gym opposite the San Diego Automotive Museum in Pan-American Plaza. Photo: C100

At Bellagio Precast studios, from left, C100 board member Pete Garcia, Barnhart-Reese project superintendent Leon Cavallo and Bellagio owner Mike Matson review the artistic elements that will be installed above the entrance to the Municipal Gym. Photo: C100

From the start of the Municipal Gym project, another key partner has been Bellagio Precast. Mike Matson has led the effort to recreate the art of the monumental mural, the repeating façade ornaments, as well as the centerpiece ornaments of the overhanging marquee. Matson partnered with Thiele in researching archive images of these lost elements, and with painstaking technical skill and creativity, sculpted the new bas-relief models with the hand of a true artist. Bellagio is now well into production on these elements to be installed, and has since also taken on the historic sign that proclaims the building “Electricity and Varied Industries” in the one-of-a-kind Art Deco font that originally graced the building. Like the other sculptural elements glass fiber reinforced concrete material, reinforced with stainless steel. This durable material is sure to weather gracefully with little maintenance required.

The Projects Committee meets monthly and welcomes new members interested in detailed discussions of the design and construction aspects of the work of C100.

One concept for a new “singing fountain” is three pools paved with decorative tiles and covered over with a metal grate. Temporary flooring could cover the fountain for special events. The dimensions would be the same as the 1935 Firestone Singing Fountain and a pair of kiosks, as in 1935, would house loud speakers. They would be placed north of the fountain, right, in this rendering by project architect Robert Thiele. Palm trees are not proposed as landscaping. Robert Thiele rendering

Landscape architect David McCullough, one of the participants in an ad hoc committee on fountain design, proposes uplighting with lasers around the six fountain jets to add drama to the nighttime setting. Ultimately, a sound-and-light show with image projections on the surrounding buildings could be added to create a thrilling nightly spectacle in the Palisades. David McCullough rendering